Travel with E.: Haarlem and Rotterdam, one-day trips from Amsterdam

To end my Netherlands posts serie I write today about two
places I’ve visited when I was hosted in Amsterdam. As I told you in my last post, “Travel withE.: Amsterdam, a canal paradise”, I was four nights and five days in Netherlands.
My hotel was Hotel Blossoms City near Amsterdam Museum Square and I decided to
stay there all these four nights and to make one-day travels to near places
when I finished visiting Amsterdam. Because of that, I was in Haarlem and
Rotterdam and I am going to explain a bit about each of them, my impressions,
places to visit or to eat and how to arrive them from Amsterdam.

- Haarlem: It is one of the most charming places I have
ever been. Small but cute, with a feeling of a traditional village with no so
much tourist so we felt like to be at home. I arrived there by train, each 8
minutes you can take a train from Central Station. It cost 4,30€ and it is so
near, just 15 minutes. For more info you can visit NS Website.

I took a walk in the city center and I really loved to
discover inner yards with beautiful buildings and relaxing places, like Koudenhorn
Street, Number 64. I also visited Molen de Adriaan and it was fantastic. I have
never seen a windmill from inside and for just 3,50€ you can enjoy a fantastic
guided tour (we were just three people in the tour so I could learn so much
about it)

- Rotterdam: I spent another one-day trip in Rotterdam
and I loved it! I also took a train from Central Station in Amsterdam. It was
15,40€ single way and around 1 hour and ten minutes to arrive there. I know
there are faster trains but it probably would be more expensive. Time went by
so fast and I thing that with two days we could enjoy it more. As I use to do
in my travel posts, I am not going to make a list with all the touristic places
to see, I will just talk about what I loved more and my travel advices.

As an
architect, Rotterdam is a dream. A dream full of inspirational buildings. I
have to confess that it hasn’t got a common identity, like Amsterdam, with a
similar architecture of a determinated period. Instead of that, Rotterdam has
singular special buildings, from every period, and all of them make a different
city. Central Station, Cube Houses, Market Hall and Central Library are my favorite
ones. You have to visit too the Old Port area, Oude Haven, to finish your visit
talking a walk through Nuevo Mosa with Erasmus Bridge views.

I ate in a restaurant, called BasQ Kitchen, inside
Market Hall. I ate Tartar de Salmon, Salmon tartare with crunchy crumbles and piparrak
sauce… DELICIOUS!

And that’s all! I am sure I will visit Holland again,
in a future. I enjoyed every time there and I am sure that if I had more time I
could find new and excited villages and cities to see.